Letter of Transmittal Is Designed to Complement, and Should Be Read in Conjunction with MD&A
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843.958-4063 Fax: 843.958-4075 [email protected] Lonnie Hamilton III Public Services Building Keith D. Bustraan 4045 Bridge View Drive, Suite B352 Chief Deputy County Administrator North Charleston, SC 29405 January 9, 2008 To the members of County Council and the citizens of Charleston County, South Carolina: State law requires that all general-purpose local governments publish at the close of each fiscal year a complete set of financial statements, presented in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), and audited in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards by a firm of licensed certified public accountants. Pursuant to this requirement, we hereby issue the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for Charleston County, South Carolina, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008. This report consists of management’s representations concerning the finances of Charleston County. Consequently, management assumes full responsibility for the completeness and reliability of the information contained in this report. To provide a reasonable basis for making these representations, management has established a comprehensive internal control framework that is designed both to protect the government agency’s assets from loss, theft or misuse, and to compile sufficient reliable information for the preparation of the County’s financial statements in conformity with GAAP. Because the cost of internal controls should not outweigh their benefits, Charleston County’s comprehensive framework of internal controls has been designed to provide reasonable rather than absolute assurance that the financial statements will be free from material misstatement. As management, we assert that to the best of our knowledge and beliefs, this financial report is complete and reliable in all material aspects. Charleston County's financial statements have been audited by Scott McElveen, L.L.P, a firm of licensed certified public accountants. The goal of the independent audit was to provide reasonable assurance that the financial statements of the County for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2008, are free of material misstatement. The independent audit involved examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. The independent auditor concluded, based upon the audit, that there was a reasonable basis for rendering an unqualified opinion that Charleston County's financial statements for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2008, are fairly presented in conformity with GAAP. The independent auditor's report is presented as the first component of the financial section of this report. The independent audit of the financial statements of Charleston County was part of a broader, federally mandated "Single Audit" that is designed to meet the special needs of federal grantor agencies. The standards governing Single Audit engagements require the independent auditor to report not only on the fair presentation of the financial statements, but also on the audited government's internal controls and compliance with legal requirements, with special emphasis on internal controls and legal requirements involving the administration of federal awards. These reports are available in Charleston County's separately issued Single Audit Report. GAAP requires that management provide a narrative introduction, overview and analysis to accompany the basic financial statements in the form of Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A). This letter of transmittal is designed to complement, and should be read in conjunction with MD&A. Charleston County's MD&A can be found immediately following the report of the independent auditors. 3 PROFILE OF THE GOVERNMENT The County of Charleston was established by the state of South Carolina on April 9, 1948, under the provisions of Act 681 of 1942. The County operates under a Council-Administrator form of government. Policy-making and legislative authority is vested in a governing council consisting of nine Council members. The Council is elected on a partisan basis. During the November 2006 election Council finished the conversion from all members being elected at large to single-member district elections. Six seats were converted in the November, 2004 election and the final three seats were converted in the November, 2006 election. Charleston County Council is responsible for, among other duties, passing ordinances and policies, approving the budget, appointing committee members, and hiring the County's Administrator, Internal Auditor and Attorney. The Administrator is responsible for enforcing the policies and ordinances of the governing council, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the government services and its approximately 2,300 employees, and for appointing the heads of the various County departments. Charleston County, under a Council-Administrator form of government, provides a broad range of services that include: • Public safety - countywide law enforcement (Sheriff’s Office), detention facilities, emergency preparedness plans to include activation of the County’s Emergency Operations Center in an event of a disaster, as well as fire protection in the Awendaw Consolidated Fire District, the East Cooper Fire District, the West St. Andrew's Fire District, and Northern Charleston County Fire District • Veterans' assistance • Health-related assistance - Emergency Medical Services (EMS), alcohol and other drug abuse services, indigent health care, and social services • Voter registration • Street and drainage maintenance • Waste disposal and recycling • Planning and zoning administration • Criminal, civil, probate, and family court administration • Public defender assistance • Tax billing, collection, and dispersal to appropriate entities/municipalities • Mosquito control Blended component units, although legally separate entities, are, in substance, part of the primary government's operations and are included as part of the primary government. Accordingly, the Charleston Public Facilities Corporation has been shown in the government-wide statements in both the government and business-type activities, as appropriate. It is also shown in the fund financial statements in the debt service and capital project governmental funds, and in the parking garages and other enterprise funds. Charleston Development Corporation has been shown in the government-wide statements in the governmental activities, and in the fund financial statements in other governmental funds. Discretely presented component units are reported in a separate column in the statement of net assets and in the statement of activities in order to emphasize that they are legally separate from the primary government, and to differentiate their financial position and results of operations from those of the primary government. 4 The following entities are being reported as discretely presented component units: • Charleston County Library (CCL) • Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission (CCPRC) • Cooper River Park and Playground Commission (CRPPC) • James Island Public Service District (JIPSD) • North Charleston District (NCD) • St. Andrew's Parish Parks and Playground Commission (SAPPPC) • St. John's Fire District (SJFD) • St. Paul's Fire District (SPFD) Charleston County Volunteer Rescue Squad (CCVRS) Additional information on these nine legally separate entities can be found in Note I.B. in the notes to the financial statements starting on Page 64. The annual budget serves as the foundation for Charleston County's financial planning and control. All agencies of the County are required to submit requests for appropriation to the County Administrator by March 15 each year. The County’s Budget Office uses these requests as the starting point for developing a proposed budget for the next fiscal year. The County Administrator presents the proposed budget to County Council for review during May. Council is required to hold public hearings on the proposed budget, and to adopt a final budget each year no later than June 30, which is the close of Charleston County's fiscal year. The appropriated budget is prepared by fund, function (public safety), and department (Sheriff’s Office). The legal level of budgetary control is determined by County Council at the individual fund level. Expenditures by department, sub-organizational level and major category (personnel, non-personnel, and capital outlay) are further defined in the budget document and are subject to approval by the County Administrator. The County Administrator has the authority to make transfers between major expenditure categories within departments and between departments within the same fund. The Administrator has further delegated to the Chief Deputy Administrator/CFO, the Deputy Administrator for Support, the Deputy Administrator for Operations, and the Deputy Administrator for Transportation Sales Tax the authority to transfer between departments under their authority. The budget ordinance must be amended by County Council to effect changes in fund totals. Budget-to-actual comparisons are provided in this report for each individual governmental fund for which an appropriated annual budget has been adopted. For the General fund, this comparison is presented on Pages 47- 49 as part of the basic financial statements for the governmental funds. For governmental funds, other than